{"id":198584,"date":"2025-02-26T06:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=198584"},"modified":"2025-10-28T14:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:49:17","slug":"identifying-with-a-religion-because-of-culture-ethnicity-or-family-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2025\/02\/26\/identifying-with-a-religion-because-of-culture-ethnicity-or-family-background\/","title":{"rendered":"3. Identifying with a religion because of culture, ethnicity or family background"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many years, Pew Research Center\u2019s standard question about religious identity has asked, \u201cWhat is your present religion, if any?\u201d We asked that question again in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study<\/a> (RLS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new survey, coming after a long period of decline in U.S. religious affiliation, also sought to measure whether Americans feel connected to religions that they do not<\/em> identify with religiously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we asked respondents if they think of themselves as Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu for reasons \u201caside from religion\u201d \u2013 for example, ethnically, culturally, or because of their family background. Respondents had the option to say they felt connected to any of these five religions, or to none of them.[39. numoffset=”39″ Respondents who participated online or by phone were not asked about identifying with a group \u201caside from religion\u201d if they had already identified with that group when asked about their religion. For example, respondents who said they are Catholic when asked about their religion were not subsequently asked if they think of themselves as Catholic \u201caside from religion,\u201d and respondents who said they are Jewish when asked about their religion were not subsequently asked if they are Jewish \u201caside from religion.\u201d On the other hand, respondents who completed the survey on paper (rather than online or by phone) received all five questions about identity aside from religion, because there was no straightforward way to filter these questions based on their previous responses when filling out the paper questionnaire. Paper respondents who identified with a group by religion<\/em> are categorized as belonging to that group by religion and not \u201caside from religion.\u201d In other words, no respondents in the survey are counted as identifying with a group both by religion and \u201caside from religion.\u201d Respondents are categorized as identifying with a group religiously (if they answered the religion question that way), or \u201caside from religion,\u201d or neither \u2013 but not both.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked this question because we wanted to know how many people feel an enduring attachment to a religious tradition they were raised in but no longer practice, or feel a connection to a particular religious group for other reasons \u2013 perhaps, for example, because they have a spouse, family member or close friend who belongs to the group, or because their ancestors belonged to the group \u2013 even though they don\u2019t consider it their own<\/em> religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some previous research, we delved into the views and experiences of Americans who feel these kinds of cultural, ethnic or ancestral connections to the Jewish people<\/a>, to Catholicism<\/a> and to Islam<\/a>.[40. Refer to \u201cJewish Americans in 2020<\/a>\u201d for a detailed discussion of people who are \u201cJews of no religion\u201d or otherwise connected to the Jewish community for reasons other than their current religious identity. Refer to \u201cU.S. Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families<\/a>\u201d for a discussion of cultural Catholicism. Refer to \u201cFaith Among Black Americans<\/a>\u201d for a discussion of Black Americans who identify as Muslim \u201caside from religion.\u201d] In the new RLS, we have broadened the lens to include two additional religions that are often intertwined with ethnicity: Hinduism and Buddhism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Table<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The survey finds that more Americans identify as Catholic aside from religion<\/em> (12%) than express a similar connection with any other religion we listed. Combining this 12% with the 19% of U.S. adults who identify Catholicism as their religion, a total of 31% of all U.S. adults identify as Catholic either religiously or aside from religion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey also finds that 3% of U.S. adults identify as Jewish aside from religion, and an identical share identify as Buddhist aside from religion.[41. The finding that 3% of U.S. adults (after rounding) identify as Jewish aside from religion is roughly consistent with the Center\u2019s earlier research, although in our major surveys of Jewish Americans we have focused on a smaller group (amounting to about 0.6% of U.S. adults) who identify as Jewish aside from religion AND who also have at least one Jewish parent AND who do not identify with any other religion. We refer to people who meet all three of these criteria<\/em> as \u201cJews of no religion\u201d because they answer a survey question about their present religion by saying they are atheist, agnostic or \u201cnothing in particular.\u201d The bigger 3% figure includes people who identify, religiously, as Christians or with other (non-Jewish) religions as well as people who may not have either a Jewish mother or a Jewish father. For more detail on Jewish identity in the United States, including the variety of ways that people express connections to Judaism and the Jewish people, refer to the Center\u2019s report \u201cJewish Americans in 2020.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, 1% of U.S. adults identify as Muslim aside from religion, and 1% identify as Hindu aside from religion. (All these percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey did not ask any follow-up questions about why respondents identify with these religious groups. But, using other questions in the survey, we can see that some people who identify with a religious tradition for reasons aside from religion also say they were raised in that religion or have a spouse or partner who identifies with that religion. For example, 62% of people who identify as Catholic aside from religion say they were raised Catholic or have a Catholic spouse or partner. Among adults who identify as Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu aside from religion, about one-in-five or slightly fewer respondents say they were raised in these traditions or have a spouse or partner who identifies with the tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other people identify with more than one<\/em> group<\/em> aside from religion, which may suggest they have an affinity for many religions or all major religious traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, other respondents \u2013 ranging from 12% among those who identify as Hindu aside from religion to 52% of those who identify as Jewish aside from religion \u2013 say they identify with one of these groups aside from religion even though they were not<\/em> raised in that religion, do not<\/em> have a spouse\/partner who identifies with that group and do not<\/em> identify with multiple traditions. Presumably, these respondents have some other connections to the traditions they identify with aside from religion<\/em> that cannot be measured by this survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on for more about Americans who identify with the following traditions aside from religion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n